There are two things a technology company must do to succeed: build a product or service that is 10 times better than its competitors, and take that product/service to market. A little over a month ago I transitioned from a lead at a startup to a technology evangelist at Vantiv. I had been thinking about a shift like this for a while. When the stars aligned and the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to help “bridge the gap” between technology development and the humans that actually use these products. Choosing to join an enterprise company was something I had been pondering since reading “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. The book made me realize I had been neglecting the potential growth opportunities made possible by pushing technical communication boundaries inside a larger organization.

Transitioning into this new role has been an exciting challenge. The question arises: how do I help achieve the above goal, and what tools do I have available to help bring this to life? We could start by reading and living Vantiv’s five core values:

We are passionate about what we do

We work together to tackle the toughest problems with a winning attitude

We continuously improve ourselves and our work

We have strong character and do the right thing

We value people and have fun

These core values are great, and as good old Ben Horowitz said, if you fail to do the first two things (mentioned above) your company's culture (and values) won’t matter one bit.

So why do we bother with the other three things at all?

These are rules to live by as we try to achieve the primary objectives

The above values help us uphold our culture as we continue to grow and lead the industry

It makes our workplace a space we want to be, work, and thrive within

I think the third point above is important to ponder because workplace is tightly correlated to your “lifeplace”. At the end of the day, are we making a difference in our workplace? After spending my initial time getting to know as many aspects of our organization as possible, I will say our culture and values are thriving here. There are many challenges in transitioning into the payments industry. Making this change has been big and comes with particular challenges, but our culture is primed to succeed and is led by our values. I’m excited to move onward and upwards.